Carrots
Do you or someone you love work in a casino or other environment where you are exposed to secondhand smoke? Eat Carrots.
While studying the relationship between vitamin A, lung inflammation, and emphysema, Richard Baybutt, associate professor of nutrition at Kansas State, made a surprising discovery: a common carcinogen in cigarette smoke, benzo(a)pyrene, induces vitamin A deficiency and a diet rich in vitamin A can help counter this effect, thus greatly reducing emphysema. (Baybutt RC, Hu L, Molteni A. Vitamin A deficiency injures lung and liver parenchyma and impairs function of rat type II pneumocytes. J Nutr. 2000 May;130(5):1159-65., PMID: 10801913).
A study of 1300 elderly persons in Massachusetts
found that those who had at least one serving of carrots and/or squash each day had a 60% reduction in their risk of heart attacks compared to those who ate less than one serving of these carotenoid-rich foods per day. (Gaziano JM, Manson JE, Branch LG, et al. A prospective study of consumption of carotenoids in fruits and vegetables and decreased cardiovascular mortality in the elderly. Ann. Epidemiol. 1995; 5:255-260 1995).
Extensive human studies suggest that a diet including as little as one carrot per day could conceivably cut the rate of lung cancer in half. (Harris RA, Key TJ, Silcocks PB, et al. (Michaud DS, Feskanich D, Rimm EB, et al. Intake of specific carotenoids and risk of lung cancer in 2 prospective US
cohorts. Am J Clin Nutr(2000)Oct;72(4):990-7 2000 ).
Although best known for their high content of beta carotene, carrots also contain a phytonutrient called falcarinol that may be responsible for the recognized epidemiological association between frequently eating carrots and a reduced risk of cancers. (Kobaek-Larsen M, Christensen LP, Vach W, Ritskes-Hoitinga J, Brandt K. Inhibitory Effects of Feeding with Carrots or (-)-Falcarinol on Development of Azoxymethane-Induced Preneoplastic Lesions in the Rat Colon. J Agric Food Chem. 2005 Mar 9;53(5):1823-1827., PMID: 15740080).